This article was originally published in El Paso Matters.
As school districts across Texas — including El Paso — prepare to set their budgets for the 2024-2025 school year, many expect their expenses to exceed their revenues, leaving them with a deficit.
Despite the multibillion-dollar surplus, lawmakers failed to increase school funding during the 2023 legislative session after Gov. Greg Abbott tied public education dollars to a controversial voucher program that allowed parents to pay for private school with state money.
With pandemic-era relief expiring in September, districts are trying to address a budget crisis by cutting staff, closing schools and eliminating programs.
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Some, like the Canutillo Independent School District, have opted to ask voters to raise taxes through a bond measure, hoping to increase enrollment and bring in more revenue.
Others, like the Ysleta and Socorro independent school districts, are tightening their belts by eliminating vacant positions and exploring ways to save money. The El Paso Independent School District is exploring closing schools to avoid future budget problems.
Most are unlikely to give raises to teachers or staff in the coming school year.
Most El Paso school districts are expected to approve their budgets for the 2024-2025 school year in mid-to-late June.
To learn more about how Texas school districts got into this situation, El Paso Matters spoke with two school finance experts: Tiffany Dunne-Oldfield, deputy director of the Texas Association of School Boards, and Bob Popinski, senior policy director for Raise Your HandTexas.
TASB is a nonprofit organization that provides assistance and training to school boards, and Raise Your Hand Texas is a statewide nonprofit organization focused on policy reforms to improve public education.
El Paso Matters: Why do so many Texas schools expect a budget shortfall next school year?
Dunne-Oldfield: “Several factors are contributing to the increase in school district budget deficits as districts prepare their budgets for next year. The Texas Legislature has not increased the basic allotment — the most important part of student aid — since 2019, despite double-digit inflationary price increases.
In fact, lawmakers left nearly $4 billion in additional funding on the table because they couldn’t agree on a school voucher bill. That stagnant per-student funding, coupled with new mandates, such as the requirement to have a peace officer on every campus, and persistent funding shortfalls, such as the $2.3 billion statewide shortfall in special education funding, worsen school districts’ budget problems.”
Popinski: “The Legislature had the ability to change the funding structure of the amount flowing to school districts during the last legislative session. They had $33 billion in excess funds and another $24 billion in the rainy day fund. The Legislature has taken no action to fund our schools at the level needed.
Currently, we are in the bottom 10 in the country in terms of student funding. That’s about $4,000 below the national average. We pay our teachers approximately $8,500 below the national average. … So all of that together is really the perfect storm for districts facing these large budget shortfalls.” They have to pass deficit budgets. They have to cut programs and in some cases close schools. While it is different in every district, it reaches almost everyone in the state.”
El Paso Matters: Why would a district with declining enrollment expect a deficit?
Dunne-Oldfield: “The state funds schools based on the average daily attendance of students. Fewer students means less funding. Districts experiencing declining enrollment will be particularly hard hit by the state’s inability to help schools keep up with inflation, improve student safety measures or adequately care for students receiving special education services.
“Remember, school districts still need to keep the lights on, the buses running, and their buildings clean and safe. There are certain operational and educational costs that do not simply decrease because a district has fewer students.”
Popinski: “If districts design their budgets as they do now, they will need to staff their teachers and paraprofessionals based on the number of students they expect to attend. So they’re going to try to predict what that enrollment is going to be and if that enrollment doesn’t go through, they’re going to get less funding.
On average, our elementary school program funds approximately $10,000 per student. So if you lose 10 kids, if you’re a small district, that’s $100,000, which your school district doesn’t receive in funding. That could be one or two teachers you can’t afford.”
El Paso Matters: How Does the COVID-19 Funding Gap Impact School District Budgets?
Dunne-Oldfield: “Budget planning has generally been more difficult for school districts due to pandemic-related data anomalies related to enrollment, attendance, and the availability of time-limited funding (emergency aid for elementary and middle schools). The state also adopted costly mandates for accelerated instruction as we emerged from the pandemic, which has resulted in recurring costs even as federal support for that instruction expires.”
Popinski: “School districts knew they had to use (COVID-19) money for one-time expenses. Many used it for HVAC upgrades or staffing for accelerated instruction. That funding disappears at the end of the school year, but that doesn’t mean the pandemic-era problems disappear.”
El Paso Matters: What can school districts do to reduce their deficits?
Dunne-Oldfield: “Because staffing accounts for up to 85% of a district’s budget, it is nearly impossible to navigate a challenging budget situation without reviewing staffing levels. They will likely balance staffing needs with educational needs and will typically work first to eliminate positions that are unfilled or will soon become vacant.”
Popinski: “There are only a handful of ways a school district can earn additional revenue through our financing system: that is by increasing enrollment and average daily attendance, or by increasing the tax rate. To increase your tax rate you have to go to an election, and for some school districts that tax rate is not available. So there are very limited ways a school district can solve this budget deficit problem.
“Some school districts are taking on that deficit budget and cutting programs at the same time. What impact that will have on academic performance and education for our children as we enter the next school year remains to be seen.
El Paso Matters: What Should Lawmakers Do to Help?
Dunne-Oldfield: “It would be helpful for lawmakers to study how much it costs to educate a student, set the base amount at that amount, and then allow funding to increase automatically as inflation rises.”
Popinski: “The Legislature can do a handful of things, including what they had to do last legislative session and increase the base appropriation amount. That basic amount of $6,160 (per student) has not been increased since 2019. It would need to be just north of $7,500 to keep up with the 22% increase in inflation since 2019.
“In addition, you can ensure that inflationary pressures never really return to school districts by adding automatic inflation adjustments so that when inflation rises, the base allocation automatically goes up as well.”
El Paso Matters: Can Citizens Do Anything to Help?
Dunne-Oldfield: “We encourage parents and families to talk to their elected officials about why fully funding our Texas public schools is so important to their local community and also to the state.
Popinski: “Community members need to stay informed about why they need to make these cuts at the school district level. Make sure you understand what’s happening at the Texas Capitol in January 2025 because that’s where the funding for our children will flow. Until then, school districts are limited.”
This article first appeared on El Paso Matters and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
